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Ingenious Media's new product offering to retail investors in its UK Equity Fund has been met with caution by major investment IFAs.

Ingenious' asset management arm has announced it is offering IFAs 4 per cent commission upfront with a bonus for investments made before the end of July.

The fund - which has a portfolio split between investment managers at Blackrock Merrill Lynch, Investect and Origin - has risen 75 per cent from its inception last December to 31 March.

Guy Bowles, managing director of Ingenious, said: "We offer an innovative approach, having pioneered the best ideas multi-manager strategy for UK equities in 2003.

"The Ingenious UK Equity Fund allows investors a fresh way of accessing the UK stock market.

"I am delighted that our fund, which has delivered consistent market-beating returns and protection through manager style diversification, will now be open to a wider investor base. We are very excited about working with the IFA community."

But Justine Fearns, IFA for AWD Chase De Vere, said the fund has "an enviable track record since December", but warned it "has yet to prove itself through all market conditions".

She said: "The fund has limited availability to the mass market as it is Dublin-listed, it has a performance fee, is not on any of the mainstream fund platforms and has a minimum investment of £50,000.

"There is an annual management charge of 1.5 per cent plus a performance fee but the performance fee won't take the annual fee paid by investors over 2 per cent. Although we need to remember, as with all funds, that the total expense ratio will be higher."